zimcricketforums.com

With the Windies winning Australia for the first time since 1997, and England's incredible win in India, I thought it was a good idea to dive deeper into how the WTC has shaped up so far in its 4.5 year existence.

1) Australia | 26 wins, 10 losses, 8 draws | 1 Title
Batting average: 36.61
Bowling average: 26.72
Run rate: 3.43
Econ rate: 3.12

2) India | 24 wins, 13 losses, 5 draws
Batting average: 32.45
Bowling average: 24.28
Run rate: 3.31
Econ rate: 3.03

3) England | 24 wins, 17 losses, 8 draws
Batting average: 31.16
Bowling average: 29.30
Run rate: 3.53
Econ rate: 3.13

4) New Zealand | 13 wins, 11 losses, 3 draws | 1 Title
Batting average: 34.22
Bowling average: 29.60
Run rate: 3.25
Econ rate: 3.09

5) South Africa | 14 wins, 15 losses, 1 draw
Batting average: 25.14
Bowling average: 28.51
Run rate: 3.07
Econ rate: 3.48

6) Pakistan | 10 wins, 14 losses, 7 draws
Batting average: 33.11
Bowling average: 35.63
Run rate: 3.08
Econ rate: 3.45

7) Sri Lanka | 7 wins, 14 losses, 5 draws
Batting average: 30.28
Bowling average: 38.36
Run rate: 3.11
Econ rate: 3.38

8) West Indies | 8 wins, 17 losses, 5 draws
Batting average: 23.57
Bowling average: 34.79
Run rate: 2.78
Econ rate: 3.29

9) Bangladesh | 2 wins, 17 losses, 2 draws
Batting average: 24.13
Bowling average: 38.52
Run rate: 3.02
Econ rate: 3.21

- The top 8 teams, are all actually quite competitive. Only Bangladesh are an outlier at the bottom of the pile.
- The big 3 lead in win-loss ratio, reinforcing the idea that they are the best teams across conditions.
- New Zealand's championship in the first cycle was a great achievement, although they've fallen off a bit since.
- Sri Lanka's performance is surprisingly good
- Even with Bazball, England's scoring rate is only marginally better than Australia's
- Scoring rates seem to be averaging around 3.3 runs per over, which is a happy medium between too boring and slow, and too T20-influenced IMO

Forgot to mention the most surprising thing so far…India isn’t the top team in terms of win loss ratio. That is striking because the seem to always steamroll all opponents at home and then perform admirably away (usually on friendly surfaces, just sayin). Total mindfuck to see Australia in #1 position.

Look maybe its a winning mentality but i feel Australia has been just scraping by. A few held catches against Pakistan and Head not making that 100 in the first Windies test would have resulted in a different summer.

Australia were fortunate that Pakistan dropped so many catches. Just as Pakistan were in the ascendancy Abdullah Shafique would normally put one down in the slip cordon. What was hard to believe is that they kept putting him in the slip cordon, even after he had put down 3-4 easy catches.

Pakistan have historically had the worst slip cordon in cricket...their slip fielders are now even worse than Bangladesh's, who are actually quite decent.

Regardless, Australia's dominance at the top of WTC table is a bit surprising. I'd have thought India would easily be up on top!

What is clear is that almost every major tournament is going to be won by Australia, India, or England unless something drastic changes. Cricket is going to get pretty boring without stories like the Sri Lanka ODI team of the 90s or the West Indies team of the 80s.

eugene wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 04, 2024 12:49 am

What is clear is that almost every major tournament is going to be won by Australia, India, or England unless something drastic changes. Cricket is going to get pretty boring without stories like the Sri Lanka ODI team of the 90s or the West Indies team of the 80s.

Then be prepared to be bored. The Big 3 will only keep getting stronger...they mostly play amongst themselves and occaisionally play the Next 6. On top of that even their developmental teams (A and U-19) only play amongst themselves.

For me, following cricket has become about watching to see if/when the N6 can pull off the upset against B3. New Zealand's win in WTC 1 was thus quite special.

I guess the excitement is seeing how many major tournaments India don't win?! They are on quite a streak at the moment.

eugene wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 04, 2024 9:29 pm

I guess the excitement is seeing how many major tournaments India don't win?! They are on quite a streak at the moment.

Seriously though, the WTC forces the Big 3 to play 4 series vs other sides. It may not be perfect, but its solid. I also don't mind them playing 5 Test series whilst Bangladesh and Sri Lanka only get 2 each. As long as the smaller sides are still playing 6 series per cycle, they will be getting plenty of games.